Page 61 of Mail-Order Bride Mommy
“Coffee sounds great. Thanks.” He parked himself at the table as she set out a cup and a plate of cookies. “Only one cup?” He quirked an eyebrow.
“I need to finish meal preparations. You go ahead and enjoy.”
Lindy sidled up to him. “I helped Auntie Gwen make the cookies. Do you like them?”
He hugged the little girl to his side. “Best I ever tasted.” But his gaze was on Gwen.
She fussed with something on the cupboard.
What was wrong with him? Didn’t he remember their agreement? Even more than that, had he forgotten how much it hurt to allow himself feelings for a woman? He forced his mind back to that day waiting at the train depot. His heart had been ripped from his chest. He’d left it bleeding on the wooden platform.
Only it had found its way back to his body. And waited to be recognized.
He downed scalding hot coffee and followed it with a cookie that he didn’t even taste. Only a foolish man would venture into a mine pit knowing the risk of explosions and he was not a foolish man.
He turned his mind to the story Lindy was telling him of how she’d spent the days when Matt had been away. Suddenly, she said something that captured his attention.
“I brung my things over here.”
“From the other house?” He looked at Gwen for clarification.
She nodded, warmth in her eyes. “It was her idea. Everything is in her room.” She tipped her head in that direction.
He hugged the child to his side again. “That’s good.” Something satisfying passed between himself and Gwen. Acknowledgment of Lindy’s acceptance of the changes in her life.
“I think I owe this to you.” His voice was husky as he spoke to Gwen.
Her smile settled nicely into his heart. Perhaps that was all he needed—some sort of acknowledgment.
“It’s no more my doing than yours.” Her gaze darted away as if checking on something on the stove. But he sensed her withdrawal as she continued, her voice steady. “If you hadn’t been willing to seek a mail-order bride and if you hadn’t offered me the position and if I…” Her words trailed off.
If she hadn’t agreed to accept his condition. A marriage in name only.
He stared at the bottom of his empty coffee cup. “It was a good decision.” He stole a glance at her, hoping his words had reassured her that he wasn’t about to demand a different agreement, but her back was to him as she prepared food.
Lindy tugged his hand. “Come, see my room.” She opened each drawer and showed him the contents. One had been reserved for her collection of feathers and rocks, a few books, and an old ball. It had once been Roscoe’s. He and Matt had played many games with it.
His throat tightened at the memories.
“Auntie Gwen made a bed for my dolly.” Lindy showed him.
Gwen had fashioned a basket into a crib for the doll Lindy had gotten for Christmas last year. Merry had been thrilled to get her daughter one with a real China face but had warned Lindy that she must be careful with the fragile toy.
Lindy tucked the blanket more securely around the doll. “She likes it here.”
“That’s good.”
Lindy had stories about the doll, the books on the shelf, and various other things. Matt listened to her happy chatter. “You’re very imaginative.”
“That’s what Auntie Gwen said. And she said it was a good thing.”
“Yes, it is.”
Lindy stopped in front of him and studied him hard. He waited to see what she wanted.
“Auntie Gwen is staying, isn’t she? You’ll make sure, won’t you?”
His heart clenched so hard that his muscles twitched. Had she suggested otherwise to Lindy? “I believe she is.”
